So, a review of Val Cenis.
I'm always fascinated by those myriad of small resorts that you see, fascinated but never previously tempted because I'm so much addicted to the big French resorts. Val Cenis was a departure from the norm, 'cause because we wanted to ski at half term, and fancied something new.
The resort
http://www.piste-maps.co.uk/France/ValCenis.aspx straggles along the valley, with four towns dotted along the way, our choice Lanslevillard is one of the best having a combination of decent restaurants etc, and places such as ours which was as ski in - ski out as it is possible to get - out the door onto the piste.
The down side of the resort is that the sking area is a little limited. Although the number of ski kilometers sounds fairly high, a lot are green snakey paths. But there are still some very nice runs. Nothing really black, although I didn't try the 1m wide traverse path, and very little really red (if red=difficult) although once or twice you did have to ski to stay upright, Quite a few blue wiggle paths have reds that go straight down, well within the skiing capability of most.
Didn't try the extensive off piste, it looked pretty good and you could pretty much choose your challenge.
Of course it helped that we had sunshine and good snow for almost all days, but that's the name of the game. It is an absolutely perfect resort for families beginning, and pretty good if you want a lazy week of ski at a resort that cost around 10 - 20% less than others. Our well appointed apartment on the slopes with around 30m2 cost us both £700 for the week , including 2 lift passes.
Stonking good fun for a few days, is my conclusion, but I won't go back.
